FACTOID #53: If you thought Antarctica was inhospitable, think again - its land area is only ninety-eight percent ice. Reassuringly, the other 2% is categorised as "barren rock".
In 1989, Cray Research spun off Cray Computer Corporation separating its Cray 3 product line from the other products. Cray Research merged with SGI in February 1996. SGI set up a separate Cray Research Business Unit in August 1999 in preparation for detachment. On March 2, 2000, the unit was sold to Tera Corporation. Tera Corporation was then renamed Cray Inc. when the deal closed on April 4, 2000. Cray Inc. is based in Seattle, Washington.
Trivia
As the Cray computers were extremely expensive machines, they were sold in relatively low volumes (compared to ordinary mainframes). Thus, most sites with a Cray installation considered it quite prestigious to be a member of the "exclusive club" of Cray operators. This extended to countries as well. To boost the perception of exclusivity, Cray Research's marketing department had promotional neckties made with a mosaic of tiny national flags illustrating the "club of Cray-operating countries". Also, in at least one instance (a Cray X-MP sold to SINTEF/NTH in Norway), Cray delivered the machine equipped with the purchasing institution's national flag mounted on top of the main unit.
External links
Cray Inc - The Supercomputer Company (http://www.cray.com/)
Cray Research and Cray Inc. history (http://www.cray.com/about_cray/history.html)
Cray left to form his own company, Cray Computer Corporation, which went bankrupt in 1995, while CrayResearch was bought by SGI the next year.
Cray is also completing the Red Storm system being built for Sandia National Laboratories having CPUs clustered in 96-processor cabinets, a theoretical maximum of 300 cabinets in a machine, and a design speed of 41.5 Tflops.
Further contributing to Cray’s problems was the loss of both the chief financial officer and financial reporting manager in the fourth quarter of 2004, and the head of information technology in the first quarter of 2005.
Cray was born in 1925 in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin.
Cray wanted to follow immediately, but William Norris refused as Cray was in the midst of completing a project for the US Navy, with whom Norris was interested in maintaining a good relationship.
Cray always demanded an absolutely quiet work enviornment with a minimum of management overhead, but as the company grew he found himself constantly interrupted by middle-managers who (according to Cray) did little but gawk and use him as a sales tool by introducing him to prospective customers.
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